Ten Years Ago
by inday soraya
Summary: For years after the War, Draco Malfoy had lived far from the life he had known. This peace was disturbed when suddenly, he started remembering memories from the past that he swore never took place. What happened ten years ago and what did Hermione Granger have to do with it?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

 **2006, Present**

Draco Malfoy tucked the Daily Prophet under his arm as he walked down the cobbled street of Lyon. Everything was soaked in the pale blue hue of the early morning with the only noise coming from the occasional automobile passing by. A man heavy on the belly whistled as two women, one of whom winked at Draco, walked by. Draco held his cloak tighter around him as the soft, cool wind blew his way and rustled his hair. When he entered Le Café de Clémentine, he sat at his table by the window where he liked to watch the people outside. It didn't take long for the plump waitress, Isabelle, to come over.

"Ze usual Meester Malfoy?" she said with her French accent. She gave him a very big smile, wide enough for him to see the lipstick stain on one of her front teeth. He would choose to ignore this, just like how he ignored most things.

"Yes please," Draco said curtly.

While waiting for Isabelle to bring his breakfast and coffee, Draco unfolded the _Prophet_ in front of him. Although he had lived in France for the last nine years, he still had a subscription to London's newspaper, which he paid extra for the longer owl post delivery.

After reading the front page headline, one corner of Draco's mouth turned up.

"Good news Meester Malfoy?" Isabelle said as she placed his order on the table. She caught sight of the big photo splashed on the front page and grinned broadly, "Oh, I read about zat zis morning! 'Appy news indeed!"

"Merci Isabelle," he said, politely dismissing the waitress.

Apparently, James Sirius Potter was born yesterday afternoon to happy parents Head Auror Harry James and former Holyhead Harpies Chaser Ginevra Potter. Draco may have hated Harry Potter but he thought the bloke deserved it. After all, Harry did defeat the Dark Lord — something that Draco was, although he would never tell another soul, thankful for.

Draco took a sip of his coffee and continued to read the details of how the rest of the wizarding world celebrated the birth of _The Boy Who Lived's_ firstborn. It made him think of how he felt so detached from the previous life he had known.

The last ten years for Draco had been uneventful, something he thought he needed after the last two years at school. Because he was under legal age, he had gotten away for letting Death Eaters into Hogwarts and for becoming a Death Eater himself. After that, he decided to live alone, far away from the people who knew and recognized him.

His father was sentenced with 25 years in Azkaban while his mother, who helped Harry Potter during the Battle, had stayed at the Manor to wait for his father's return and to take care of the estate. Narcissa visited him from time to time, not forgetting to dote on him when she did.

As he turned thepage, he caught sight of a familiar face. With the same unruly hair, Hermione Granger smiled brightly at him from page 3:

 ** _Hermione Granger Becomes the Youngest Ministry Deputy Head_**

 _Dubbed as the Brightest Witch of her Age, Hermione Jean Granger, 27, becomes the youngest Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the century. Granger, one of the most influential war heroines to date, joined the Ministry right after graduating with outstanding grades from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She started in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to continue her advocacy for the rights of the underprivileged non-wizard folks such as the house-elves before eventually transferring to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in 2001. In the short time that she has been with the Department, she has gained the respect and admiration of both her colleagues and superiors._

 _"Hermione Granger is one of the most intelligent, brilliant and hardworking witches I've worked with in the Ministry. I am confident that she will do well as the newest Deputy Head of the Department," Department of Magical Law Enforcement Head Finley Higham remarked._

 _Last Monday, Granger was formally introduced in the Ministry as the Department Deputy Head by the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt. Among those who were present during the ceremony were her closest friends Head of the Auror Office Harry Potter and Auror Ronald Weasley_. _Higham, and the rest of the members of the Department were also in attendance._

Draco skimmed through the rest of the article, not surprised with Granger's latest accomplishment. Because if Draco had to be honest, Granger always was talented albeit being such a know-it-all. Looking back, he realized he didn't remember much of her in sixth year. But he reckoned it was nothing unusual since he rarely remembered anything from that year except the anxiety and the desperation that ate at him.

 **1996, Ten Years Ago**

Hermione Granger, for the umpteenth time, had not noticed the time while she studied in the library. She wasn't an irresponsible student but she had her way of getting too immersed in what she was reading that she tended to forget about time. Madam Pince, the librarian who seemed to have familiarized her schedule unintentionally, had to remind her she had Charms for next period.

She was hurriedly on her way to class when she bumped into someone, causing her to drop her books on the floor.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't —," she said, stopping when she looked up to see the unmistakable white blond head of the possibly worst person in the world next to You-Know-Who, Draco Malfoy.

Draco, surprisingly, had picked up one of her books, proceeded to shove it roughly to her chest and sneered, "Watch where you're going."

His eyes lingered on hers for a second before he stalked off to the opposite direction. Hermione, confused with the lack of the usual venom and disgust from his words or his look, tried to ignore both as she collected the rest of her books and ran to class.

Hermione had in fact managed to push the earlier incident to the back of her mind what with classes to attend and notes to write. She ate lunch with Harry and Ron in the Great Hall without mentioning her run-in with the Slytherin. It wasn't until Draco showed up late during Defense Against the Dark Arts together with the Slytherins that she remembered.

Instead of sitting in front, between his cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Draco stuck to the back, not once looking up. At this, Harry nudged her and whispered begrudgingly, "See, Malfoy is clearly late but Snape's pretending otherwise."

"Do we have a problem here, Mr. Potter?" Professor Severus Snape suddenly interjected.

"No, Professor," Harry murmured.

"Five points from Gryffindor... for talking without my permission," Professor Snape said loudly to the class before proceeding to his lecture.

Hermione noticed however that even when Professor Snape docked points from Gryffindor, which would have been a good opportunity for Draco to snigger and taunt Harry with, Draco had stayed completely aloof. This and Draco's sudden change in behavior distracted her to a great extent and for the rest of the period that she almost didn't catch the assignment on the Inferi.

In her defence, Hermione was and had always been an inherently curious girl. When she was a child, she both amused and annoyed her parents with questions about anything she'd see. She liked to overanalyze every little thing and get to the bottom of every problem. So when Draco Malfoy, her number one tormenter, suddenly passed up the chance to insult her and call her _Mudblood_ earlier, she knew there was something off. And she was determined to find out what.

 **Present**

Even after nine years, Draco had nightmares of the War. Sometimes, he'd dreamed of the time when he received the Dark Mark. They were always so vivid that he'd wake up feeling the incredible pain in his forearm and the insane fear as his heart pounded wildly against his chest.

That night however, he dreamt of something he was sure never happened. They say people's dreams often involved the people they think about during the day or before they went to sleep so he attributed this dream to the Prophet article he read about Hermione Granger during breakfast. But instead of the usual scene in the Malfoy Manor in which he often watched her screaming and pleading, it played out differently.

 _He was running through the dimly lit halls of Hogwarts, his footsteps' echoes following closely behind him. He just mended the cabinet in the Room of Requirement but instead of elation and relief, he felt dread. He never expected for it to work. He was supposed to fail and face the consequence before the Dark Lord. He had no choice. So although his heart hadn't been in it, he had continued trying out different spells until..._

 _He ran almost clumsily, afraid that the Death Eaters had already seen the bird he'd conjured, alive inside the linked cabinet at Borgin and Burkes. He took out a gold coin out of his pocket, wishing for her to see the message while it burned in his hand. A couple of flights of stairs down and various turns later, he finally reached the right corridor. He threw open the doors of an old classroom on the fifth floor only to find it empty. Where was she?_

 _He was starting to panic. When he turned to leave, a girl was already standing in the doorway, her face hidden in the darkness. He knew it was her though; he'd recognize her anywhere._

 _Suddenly, it felt like time had stopped. It was so quiet except for their heavy breathing. And for a moment, he'd thought they could run away from here, away from the Death Eaters, away from the Dark Lord. But as soon as she stepped into the light, looking at her face, he realized she'd never do that. She'd choose to die fighting rather than live running._

 _"Draco?"_

 _Hermione Granger's eyebrows were knitted together, her eyes wide and searching as she spoke almost out of breath, "I came as soon as I could."_

That was when Draco woke up, shivering in cold sweat. And like any other dream he'd had, this one felt real.

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! I hope you liked the first chapter and perhaps intrigued enough to be excited for the next one. I'd like to hear what you'd thought of it so please feel free to drop a review! xx, soraya


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

 **1996**

Hermione went down for breakfast Monday early morning. Only a number of students were in the Great Hall which wasn't unusual on the first day of the week. It had been a few days since Katie was transferred to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and the rumor about her poisoning had died down.

As soon as she sat at the Gryffindor table, she looked across the room and sure enough, Draco Malfoy was there sitting alone and far from the few first year Syltherins present. She wouldn't admit it but she had been paying attention to Draco more than she allowed herself to, not because she suspected him of what happened to Katie but because she had noticed his unusual preoccupation. She convinced herself that this mere observation was nothing compared to Harry's obsession.

Draco, she _observed_ , had lacked interest in everything. He picked at his food, barely eating anything. He seemed oblivious of his surroundings — the occasional snigger from the other Syltherins, the Bloody Baron floating through their table and resting a few seats away. Malfoy had been ignoring his schoolwork too. He spent detention with Professor McGonagall who mentioned that he had failed to submit his Transfiguration assignments twice. And except for Potions, he didn't seem to care about any other subject. The circles under his eyes had become darker, his skin had gotten impossibly paler and his face thinner. Just as someone coughed loudly, Malfoy raised his head, his eyes looked right at hers. There was a sudden intensity in them that wasn't there before. For a second, he was the same Malfoy who hated her. She forgot to avert her eyes and stared openly at him. In the end, he seemed to have decided that she wasn't worth his time. He stood and left the Hall leisurely.

Hermione gave him a few second head start before following him out of the Hall. Outside the open doors, she looked both ways and saw his figure turn a corner. She ran as quietly as she could and hid behind the walls, waiting for Malfoy to make another turn before trailing behind him. He seemed unaware of his tail as he continued to saunter in the same pace. It was too early for class so where was he headed?

She was now on the third floor, passing through a hallway she wasn't familiar with. After rounding the corner, Malfoy was already gone. There were two possibilities: either he figured her out or he went inside one of the rooms here. The classrooms in this part of the Castle weren't used. As far as she knew, the school hadn't held classes here since before she came to Hogwarts. To make sure, she checked each of the rooms, careful to open the doors quietly and cautiously slipping inside once she knew there was no one there. The one she was in now was smaller than the others. The tables and chairs had already collected dust from years of vacancy. If Malfoy had been here before, there was no hint of it. She was about to leave when someone grabbed her, covering her mouth before she could scream for help and pushed her hard against the wooden door.

"What do you think you're doing, Mudblood?" Malfoy growled at her, his face only a few inches from hers. He was livid, all life back in his normally dull eyes.

Hermione could only look at him with wide eyes. Once she got over the shock, she tried talking with Malfoy's hand clamped strongly over his mouth. When he realized this, he quickly withdrew his hand, replacing it with a want pointed in her throat.

"W-what do you mean?" she finally managed to mumble.

"Don't play dumb with me, Granger. You know exactly what I mean."

And she knew there was no way out of this. He wouldn't believe any excuse she'd come up with, no matter how convincing it would be. So she stood her ground and looked at Malfoy, silently challenging him. He regarded her with wariness. They both knew how determined she can be. As soon as Malfoy understood this, she was sure there was no way he'd hurt her here, not when she could easily pinpoint him as the culprit.

"You better watch it Granger," he warned with narrowed eyes before letting go of her and leaving her alone in the darkness.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. There was something in Malfoy's tone and eyes that told her it wasn't an empty threat.

 **2006, Present**

 _He was running down the corridor, his heart pounding against his chest. He had never been this afraid in his life. He remembered when the Dark Lord gave him his mission and how terrified he was. But this was worse. He could feel his hands sweating, his legs aching from the effort to run faster, his fear ringing in his ears. He had never been this afraid in his life. It didn't matter if he died as long as she could live._

 _He was in the same empty room. His grey eyes scanned the place, searching in panic. When he turned around, she was there._

 _"_ _Draco?" Her voice trembled a little. "I came as soon as I could."_

 _Looking at her face, he was struck by how beautiful she was. Why hadn't he noticed this sooner? He balled his fists tighter and realized that he was still clutching the coin…_

Draco sat upright, panting. His heart was still beating wildly against his ribs. He held a hand to his face. He'd been having this dream for two weeks. It was always the same and she was always there. He had tried to remember that time ten years ago. But it felt like grasping for something that wasn't there at all. After he fixed the cabinet, the next thing he could recall was being on top of the Astronomy Tower. Professor Dumbledore had been trying to convince him to come over to their side. He wasn't a killer, he'd said. They could protect him and his family, he'd sworn. He tried to look for gaps, any evidence that might tell him his memories had been tampered with. But there were none.

He racked his brain for any clue in the dream. He had sent her a message to meet him. He used the same method to communicate with Madame Rosmerta when he tried to sneak the necklace in the Castle. In fact, he had gotten that brilliant idea from Granger. The coin… He'd seen it somewhere. Draco opened his drawers, checking everything before finally finding it among the few trinkets from school he decided to bring. He never paid it much attention before. Now that he thought about it, he remembered holding on to it tightly even after he got home from the night Dumbledore was killed. For some reason, the gold had given him comfort not even his mother could give.

The gold coin wasn't a Galleon. Although it looked like money, he was certain it wasn't exchanged in the Wizarding community. That was why he had held on to it all these years. This was the gap he'd been looking for. There was no way he would have gotten this by himself. Because if he had to guess, he'd say it was Muggle currency.


End file.
